Medical practice chair with foot supporting stirrups



June 30, 1953 N. E. LAUTERBACH 2,643,704

MEDICAL PRACTICE CHAIR WITH FOOT SUPPORTING STIRRUPS Original Filed July 2, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet l IN V EN TOR.

Mime/z E ggzerback BY P June 30, 1953 N. E. LAUTERBACH MEDICAL PRACTICE CHAIR WITH FOOT SUPPORTING STIRRUPS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed July 2, 1946 h C mm 5 m m 0 N 1/- a .m N

June 30, 1953 N. E. LAUTERBACH 2,643,704

MEDICAL PRACTICE CHAIR WITH FOOT SUPPORTING STIRRUPS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed July 2, 1946 m ME V V////Itil| v mw A I M WHHH i & g Fl: 3 mm mm- 1 v U \I 6n Km V INVENTOR. Norma/2E. Lauterbac/z BY His ,4: tor/18y 4 0 7 3 4 no m 2 R R I T s G N I T R 0 P w T O O F H T I w R m C E C I T C A R P C T. D E M June 30, 1953 N. E. LAUTERBACH 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed July 2, 1946 INVENTOR. Norman E. Lauierbaclz Patented June 30, 1953 MEDICAL PRACTICE CHAIR WITH FOOT SUPPORTING STIRRUPS Norman E. Lauterbach, Newark, N. Y., assignor to Bitter Company, Inc., Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Original application may. 2., 1946, Serial No. 680,983. Divided and this application October 1, 1949, Serial No. 119,097

4 Claims. (01. 155-172) This invention relates to chairs of the variety adapted for use by the medical profession during examinations, treatments, and minor operations, one object of the invention being to provide an improved chair of such character having a more adjustable, convenient, and emcient construction.

Another object is to provide a chair of the above character having head, back, arm, and foot rests adjustable to and from positions lying substantially in the plane of the chair seat, for converting the chair into a substantially flat, table like support.

A further object is to supply such a chair provided with stirrups for supporting the feet of a patient in suitable position for certain examinations and so constructed as to be readily extended for use or compactly retracted to position at the sides of the chair.

A further object is to provide a chair having stirrups of the above character so supported as to be conveniently adjustable to different positions of use to suit different patients.

This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 680,983, filed on July 2, 1946, now Patent No. 2,558,143, granted June 26, 1951, Medical Practice Chair, to which reference may be had for parts disclosed but not claimed herein.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a chair embodying the present invention and arranged to support a patient in upright sitting position;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation with the back rest and, head rest in the plane of the seat, the foot rest being folded under the leg rest and the stirrups extended and elevated;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation partly broken away and partly in section showing an arm rest and stirrup supporting means;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional elevation on the line i-Ai in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 3, but with the stirrup means mounted thereon in retracted position and shown in cross section;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a stirrup and part of the supporting means therefor detached;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged side elevation, partly in section, showing the stirrup supporting means;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of parts of the arm rest shown in Fig. 3, and

Fig. 9 is a sectional view substantially along the line Q9 in Fig. 7.

The invention is disclosed in the present instance, by way of illustration, as applied to a medical practice chair having a circular base at (Fig. 1) for an elevating column 4! on which a seat frame i2 is supported for tilting movement. A post $3 is pivotally supported at it on the rear of the seat frame and carries a longitudinally sliding back rest frame 45. Frame 45 carries at its top a forwardly depending spring arm at supporting the padded back rest ll. These back rest parts are adjustably tilted between the upright position shown in Fig. 1 and the horizontal position shown in Fig. 2 in which they lie substantially in the plane of the seat under control of counterbalancing springs in the seat frame and locking means controlled by a lever 48.

The upper end of frame 45 is pivotally connected at :39 (Fig. l) to the rear portion of the arm rest means. The arm rest means preferably comprises a pair of metal frames 50 (Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4) each of which has mounted thereon an arm-receiving portion or member 5! of plastic or other known and suitable material and having a generally broad and substantially flat upper surface. The upper rear portion of each frame 59 is connected to frame 45 at 49, while the forward ends are pivotally connected to the sides of seat rest frame 42. These arm rests effect a sliding movement of the back rest on its post it as it is tilted to lowered positions to maintain the back rest in proper position relative to the back of the patient. During such movement the arm rests move from the inclined position shown in Fig. 1 to the substantially horizontal position shown in Fig. 8 in which they also lie substantially in the plane of the seat as a part of the substantially flat, table-like" support for the patient.

The invention provides, in combination with the above construction, an advantageous stirrup ably receiving an extensible stirrup rod or arm hereafter described. Depending from the under side of arm receiving member 5! into guideway 54 are a pair of lugs 55 and 56, Fig. 8, formed with openings for the reception of setscrews 51 and 56 in portion 53 of the frame at the ends of the guideway, said setscrews having tapered ends arranged to engage the lower sides of the openings, so as to fix arm receiving member 51 on the upper side 53 of the arm rest frame. Each stirrup bar :58 passes loosely through a guide opening 66 in the arm rest frame at the forward end of the guideway and also through a similar opening in a wall or web portion 8| of .the frame which extends transversely of, and bridges the guideway. This opening is reduced in size. to loosely fit the bar 59 by a shim means 62. A leaf spring 63 is fixed on arm receiving member 5| to bring its free end against the stirrup rod or bar 59 forwardly of its bearing on wall 6! so as to tilt the forward end of the bar downwardly about its bearing in the wall portion 6!. The under side of the bar is formed with a series of spaced recesses 64 for engagement with the head of a setscrew 65 in the bottom of the guideway at its forward end. By means of this construction, the stirrup bar 58 is normally secured against sliding in its guideway by the engagement of one of its recesses with the head of screw 55, but the upper end of the bar may be slightly lifted against the tension of spring 63, so as to clear the screw and permit the bar to be adjustably extended forwardly of the chair, in which position it may be again secured by engagement of one of its recesses with the screw head.

Each stirrup bar 59 has its forward end 66 (Fig. '2) turned downwardly and outwardly and formed as a-trunnion for pivotally supporting a short extension 57 having an oppositely inclined end 58 formed with a bearing mounted to swing on the trunnion 65. The trunnion has a pcripheral slot 69 extendingpart way around it for receiving the projecting inner end of a screw it (Fig. 5) in the bearing of extension 6'1, so as to limit the swinging movement of the extension on the trunnion. The extension terminates in an angular arm H and carries a parallel motion linkage for supporting the stirrup, which will now be described.

An elongated housing 72 (Fig. 7), U-shaped in cross section, is pivoted at '13 on extension 57 and the extension arm H has pivoted thereto at 14 a link movable longitudinally in the housing. Link is is channel-shaped in cross section as shown in Fig. 9. The opposite end of the housing is pivoted at E6 to a lug Tl on the stirrup 78 which is formed with a depending heelengaging portion or flange 18a (Flg. 7). Stirrup 18 is also pivoted at 19 to the forward end of link 35, thus creating a parallel motion linkage by means of which the housing may be tilted upwardly at its forward end to elevate the stirrup which is maintained in substantially horizontal position parallel with the chair seat by such linkage.

For securing the stirrup in its several positions of vertical adjustment, a latch bar 80 is pivoted to the housing at 16 and has at its opposite end a sharp corner 8! arranged to engage in a series of notches 82 in link '15. A spring 83 is fixed at one end to link 15 and at its other end to the latch bar 80 to normally position the latter for engagement w th one of the notches, to maintain the stirrup 1n an elevated positionr To release the linkage for lower ng the stirrup, a bar 84 is pivoted at 19 on link 15 and carries a button 85 projecting downwardly beyond the link, these parts being so arranged that upward pressure on the button raises this release bar to engage and-raise latch bar 80, so as to clear the notches in the link and permit the lowering of housing 12 with its stirrup to horizontal position in which it is arrested by engagement of its top wall with the top of the arm extension 61. Fig. 2 illustrates the range of this vertical adjustability of the stirrup.

It is evident from the above construction that with the housing 12 and the stirrup 18 in the horizontal position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, these parts and the arm extension 61 may be swung on trunnion 66 to the position shown in Fig. 1, compactly folded out of the way outside and below the corresponding arm rest, in which position these parts, finished with chrome plating, form an attractive part of the chair. In use,.with the chair parts in the upright position shown in Fig. 1, the stirrups are swung outwardly and forwardly about their inclined pivots to a position in which they are inclined forwardly and downwardly substantially in extension of the arm rests. tudinal extension from the chair arms as may be required, the patient's heels may be located in the stirrup rings, after which the chair parts may be tilted to a reclining position, as shown in Fig. 2, which automatically brings the patient into a correct anatomical examining position, the stirrups being extended or retracted, raised or lowered as required for particular patients and particular examinations.

It will thus be seen that the invention accomplishes its objects and while it has been herein disclosed by reference to the details of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that such disclosure is intended in an illustrative, rather than a limiting sense, as it is contemplated that various modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts will readily occur to those skilled in the art, within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A. chair comprising a seat, guideways extending forwardly at the sides of said seat, rods slidable in said guideways, extensions hinged at the forward ends of said rods, stirrups hinged on said extensions, and means for maintaining said stirrups substantially horizontal during vertical movement of said extensions, said stirrups being adjustable forwardly and rearwardly and in elevation relatively to said seat by said sliding and hinged movements of said rods and extenmom.

2. A chair comprising a seat, arm rests thereon formed with guideways, rods slidable in said guideways forwardly and rearwardly of said seat, extensions hinged for vertical adjustment on the forward ends of said rods, stirrups hinged on said extensions for vertical adjustment therewith, parallel motion linkages for maintaining said stirrups in horizontal position on said extensions, latches for holding said stirrups in vertically adjusted positions, and means for releasing said latches.

8. A chair comprising a seat, a back rest thereon having a tilting movement toward and from a position lying substantially in the plane of said seat, guideways on opposite sides of said seat, extensible rods slidable in said guideways and provided with stirrups, means for adjust- In this position, with such longiing said stirrups vertically on said rods, and means for maintainingsaid stirrur s substantially parallel with said plane during said vertical adjustment thereof.

4. A chair comprising a seat, a back rest thereon having a tilting movement toward and from a position lying substantially in the plane of said seat, arm rests thereon formed with guideways, extensible rods slidable in said guideways and provided with stirrups, connections between said stirrups and rods for raising and lowering said stirrups, and means for maintaining said stirrups substantially parallel with said plane during said vertical adjustment thereof.

NORMAN E. LAUTERBA-CH.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 412,371 Elberg Oct. 8, 1889 467,479 Doyle Jan. 19, 1892 483,900

Case Oct. 4, 1892 

